Oral History Commons^™

Degoosh, Milo, May Hohman

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Milo Degoosh is a 28 year old FTM transgender adult. He works at Bard Coffee Shop in Portland, and competes in National Barista competition. He elaborates on how the Queer community has influenced the Barista competition and how he is a Queer figure in this environment. Milo has two moms and big family, all of which have helped him in his transition. He started hormones in 2015 and has had many changes since, such as mood, attitude, and work ethic. Milo participating in the National Campaign for Marriage Equality by knocking on doors. The necessity and cost for transition …

Beck-Poland, Sherry, Ariana Wenger, Johnna Ossie

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Sherry Beck-Poland is 64 years old and lives in Lewiston, Maine with their wife Dee, and two sons, Jacob and Joe. Sherry has dedicated much of their life helping others including fostering over ten children, adopting their two sons, working for DHHS with individuals with PTSD, personality disorders, and other disabilities, as well as their involvement with political activism for marriage equality, and their help in organizing pride in Lewiston.

Sherry has attended the University of Southern Maine for their undergraduate degree where they graduated with honors, then attended Seminary where they received their master’s degree in theology. Sherry is …

Fenton-Snell, Butch, Danielle Fraser, Jarod Wescot

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Butch is 68 years old and was born in Youngstown Ohio, One of 6 children, Moved to Maine in 1980 to be with his husband. Family life was relatively normal for Butch in terms of coming out. However his father was not very emotionally available in general. Butch Knew he was gay from a very young age and did not feel as if he was ever confused about his sexuality. Butch later joined the military and was in the Vietnam War. Continued to move to different states and eventually ended up in Maine later becoming owner of Blackstones in Portland. …

Brushaber, Skip, Jack Barrett, Branden Pratt

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Skip Brushaber is a 71-year old gay man who uses he/his/him pronouns. Skip worked as a nurse and social worker during the AIDS crisis. He was born in Buffalo, New York, on January 9th, 1947. Skip studied English in college but later became a nurse and social worker. He lived in New York and Pennsylvania before moving to Portland in 1980. He helped found the AIDS Project in 1983, a group in Portland that helped support individuals dealing with AIDS, and founded and wrote for Our Paper throughout the 80s, an LGBTQ paper aimed at covering issues related to queerness …

Kawamoto, Eric, Cosette Holmes, Tiana Cope-Ferland

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

This interview with Eric Kawamoto reveals a journey of self-discovery in Chicago, L.A., Boston, and Portland; an intersection between being Asian American and being queer; and survival of AIDS as a result of reserve. Kawamoto places these personal themes among his account of the LGBTQ+ and Asian American communities’ overarching struggles, like the fight for domestic partnership benefits, representation of Asian American gay men, and spreading awareness about Japanese American internment in California.

Citation

Please cite as: Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer+ Collection, Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in …

Mckenzie, Ellen, Caroline Wheeler, Marwa Ibrahim

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

This interview features Ellen McKenzie, an African-American lesbian woman living in Portland, Maine. Having lived in Portland for almost her entire life, Ellen can provide insight on growing up in one of the only black families in her community, the intersections between race and sexuality, co-parenting children from a spouse’s previous marriage and generally navigating the world and her career as a queer woman of color. Throughout this interview, we hear a lot about her childhood and her family’s history as civil rights activists in Maine, her relationship with her spouse and and co-parenting their children with both her spouse, …

Cusack, Ralph, Hannah Cain

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Ralph Cusack was born in Maine and has lived most of his life in the state. He is one of the founders of The Harbor Masters of Portland Maine, men’s leather club, and an active member of the leather community and a navy veteran. This interview covers his participation in the Harbor Masters of Portland, Maine, living through the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 80s, his participation in many years of gay pride events and the march on Washington in 1987, owning the gay bar Blackstones in Portland, ME, and his service in the US Navy.

Citation

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Hopkins, Susan, Ysanne Bethel

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Susan Hopkins is a 53-year-old member of the LGBTQIA community, living in Westbrook, Maine. Susan grew up with her family on the small island of Vinalhaven in Penobscot Bay, hearing tales of her anti-racist bisexual aunt. A self-identified feminist in her adolescence, Susan recognized that she was not straight early on, but did not feel safe to come out in her small community. Going to the University of Maine, Orono, Susan experienced her first lesbian relationship and taste of chosen family. Eventually, Susan found herself at the Howard University School of Law, where she interned at Whitman Walter Clinic in …

Leveille, Lee, Student Interviewer

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Lee Leveille is a 30-year-old Californian transplant that grew up in Sumner and Greene, ME. S/he works as an intentional peer support specialist in central Maine and is currently finishing up his/her bachelor’s in Psychology and Community Studies at the University of Maine at Machias. S/he is an active member of his/her local synagogue after beginning the conversion process to Judaism in 2016.

Lee considers him/herself to be a transgender butch, or someone who lives simultaneously as both a butch woman and transman. His/her pronouns are thus conditional in order to provide him/her with the flexibility to adapt to different …

Ward, Jeffrey, Benjamin Cornwall

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Jeffrey Ward, from Northern Maine, talks about his experience interacting with the Portland LGBTQ community and his experience coming out as a gay man at the age of 47. Some subjects include: his experience with the Casco Gay Men group, Portland Pride Parade, The Front Porch, Blackstones, his involvement in the Methodist Church, his family life, and how he met his partner of 16 years.

Citation

Please cite as: Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer+ Collection, Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine, University of Southern Maine Libraries.

For more …

Elias, Richard, Benjamin Cornwall

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Richard Elias grew up in Northern Maine and moved to Portland at a young age. In this interview, we discuss: coming out as a gay man, his family life, his experience with Portland gay bars (The Phoenix, Roland’s and Blackstones), some of his travel stories, his love for dancing, and the effect of the AIDS epidemic on his life.

Citation

Please cite as: Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer+ Collection, Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine, University of Southern Maine Libraries.

For more information about the Querying the Past: …

Maceachern, Meredith, Skylar Hebert, Emma Chapin

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Meredith MacEachern is a 25 year old graduate of Acadia University in Canada, and has completed the Stonecoast MFA program. The only child of two archeologists, Meredith spent her childhood in Canada and South Africa, with most of her middle and high school years in Brunswick, Maine. She is passionate about activism for the indigenous populations of Canada, and uses her voice as a writer to speak about stigma towards psychosis and mental illness. She is hoping to move back to Canada in the next year and act as a supporter of justice for indigenous peoples.

Citation

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Quezada, Alzenira, Wendy Chapkis

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Alzenira Quezada, also known as Lady Zen, is a queer artist, singer and performer. Quezada was born to Brazillian parents and raised by white adoptive parents who were members of the Church of the Nazarene, a branch of evangelical Christianity. She was cut off by her adoptive parents when she came out at 17. She studied music at Evergreen College in Washington State. She grew up in Arkansas and spent many years in Portland, Maine before moving to Mexico where she currently resides. Quezada owns a production company in Mexico and also works at a queer run bar. Her current …

Hart, Bunny, Johnna Ossie

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Frederica 'Bunny' Hart was born in 1930. She spent the first nine years of her life living with her grandparents in Boston. Her mother died when she was three. When she was nine her father remarried and the family moved to Newton Center. She graduated from Junior College in 1950 where she studied History and English. From there, she traveled to New York City to look for work. Bunny first started dating women in the 1950s while she was living in New York. She worked as a stage manager in NYC in a time where it was very difficult for …

A Conversation With Keith Plummer

LGBTQ Alumni Oral History Project

This conversation represents an oral history interview with a Holy Cross alum who graduated in 2017.

A Conversation With Mario A. Leiva

LGBTQ Alumni Oral History Project

This conversation represents an oral history interview with a Holy Cross alum who graduated in 2014.

A Conversation With Emily Breakell

LGBTQ Alumni Oral History Project

This conversation represents an oral history interview with a Holy Cross alum who graduated in 2017.

Diamante, Robert, Wendy Chapkis

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Robert Diamante is a photographer from an Italian America family from New Jersey. He also has a graduate degree in theology. At an early age, he began to doubt religious dogma. He came out as gay in 10^th grade and stood up against homophobic taunting by successfully physically defending himself. He briefly had a girlfriend in high school who remains one of his best friends. He moved to NYC and attended Pratt University before transferring to the Portland School of Art (now MECA) where his interests in art and theology combined in a body of work based on Catholic …

Crewe, Dan, Wendy Chapkis

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Description: Dan Crewe is an 84 year old gay man originally from New Jersey. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1957. Crewe was a member of the United States Air Force for four years, after which he moved to New York City and began a lucrative career in the music industry in production and publishing. He then moved to Los Angeles, California where he met his then wife, the musician Cindy (now Cyd) Bullens, and they had two daughters. The family eventually moved to Maine, where Crewe opened Gateway Mastering Studios and continued working in music. During …

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim …

A Conversation With Stephen T. Coady

LGBTQ Alumni Oral History Project

This conversation represents an oral history interview with a Holy Cross alum who graduated in 1999. Highlights of this conversation include Stephen's experience in starting ABiGaLe at Holy Cross, his description of the campus climate during the late 1990's, and his reflections on being an activist during this time period.

Interview keywords: student groups, activism, support, coming out, ABiGale, Chaplain's Office

Queer Mississippi Oral History Project Performance, Jessica Wilkerson

Queer Mississippi (Complete Collection)

Members of Dr. Jessica Wilkerson's Oral History of Southern Social Movements class (S ST 560) gave a presentation on their findings at the end of the semester.

A Conversation With Meghan Griffiths

LGBTQ Alumni Oral History Project

This conversation represents an oral history interview with a Holy Cross alum who graduated in 2004. Highlights of this conversation include content on the role of Jesuit and faith-based education on personal development and identity formation. She speaks largely about her roles as an Orientation Leader and cochair of the LGBTQ Alumni network.

Interview keywords: Jesuit, faith, orientation leader, Catholic, queer, bisexual, LGBTQ Alumni Network

A Conversation With Philip Dardeno Ii

LGBTQ Alumni Oral History Project

This conversation represents an oral history interview with a Holy Cross alum who graduated in 2002. Highlights of this converation includes content on being involved in Allies and ABiGaLe, being gay at the turn of the century at Holy Cross, community and campus involvement.

Interview keywords: Allies, ABiGaLe, Millennial March, September 11 Terrorist Attacks

A Conversation With Karen Mcshane

LGBTQ Alumni Oral History Project

This conversation represents an oral history interview with a Holy Cross alum who graduated in 2006. Highlights of this conversation include content on feelings of homesickness in college, events demonstrating global context such as teh 9/11 terrorist attacks, organizations on campus such as ABiGaLe, hate crimes, relationships, support systems, Holy Cross' Jesuit identity, the patriarchal language of Catholic services, mental illness and post-graduation resources.

Interview keywords: homesickness, September 11 Terrorist Attacks, coming out, ABiGaLe, hate crimes, relationships, support, Jesuit, Catholicism, atheism, Chaplain's Office, Counseling Center, clinical depression, Spanish, LGBT Alumni Network

A Conversation With David B. Harvie

LGBTQ Alumni Oral History Project

This conversation represents an oral history with a Holy Cross alum who graduated in 1982. Highlights of this conversation include content on how Mr. Harvie commuted from home for his first two years at the College, as well as how his experience junior year while studying abroad in Germany helped him to be more confident in his sexuality. Furthermore, Mr. Harvie is very involved in the Catholic community. He helps organize a church, "In God's Image," for the LGBTQ community in New Jersey.

Interview keywords: Study Abroad, Chaplain's Office, Munich, Germany, coming out, night life, day student, commuter, New Jersey, …

A Conversation With Mark Campbell-Foster

LGBTQ Alumni Oral History Project

This conversation represents an oral history interview with a Holy Cross alum who graduated in 2004. Highlights of this conversation include content on a variety of experiences, including living through 9/11, being an RA [resident assistant], and dating men who were in and out of the closet while at Holy Cross. He also offers unique insight to being LGBTQ+ at Holy Cross as he describes his experience with hearing loss and how he was openly gay going into college. Mark was a Psychology major, Deaf Studies minor while at Holy Cross and is now an audiologist.

Interview keywords: Chaplain's …

Harrison, Dick, Johnna Ossie

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Dick Harrison is a 68-year-old gay man who uses he/him/his pronouns. Originally from Buffalo, NY, he moved to Van Buren, ME as a young adult to pursue work as an art teacher. He soon set to work connecting with other LGBTQ+ folks in northern Maine and just over the border in Canada, an effort that culminated in the founding of Northern Lambda Nord. NLN published a newsletter, organized dances, conferences, and social events, and operated a resource center and hotline for LGBTQ+ people for more than 20 years, providing a crucial lifeline for queer and trans Mainers in some of …

Syllabus For S St 560 Introduction To Oral History, Documenting Lgbtq Histories In Mississippi, Jessica Wilkerson

Queer Mississippi (Complete Collection)

Syllabus distributed to students in Southern Studies (S ST) 560 for the 2018 Spring semester at the University of Mississippi. It includes course description and objectives, a reading list of required texts, an explanation of assignments and course policies, and a detailed schedule for the 14-week course.